[in-enaction] 1980s revival: Good Malls and Bad Cities

New quasi-urban shopping centers and the digital public sphere call into 
question traditional hatred of malls.
By Philip Nobel

Posted March 14, 2007

Many years ago, in the dark days before the Internet, a friend of mine 
conceived a political performance-art project that, unfortunately, he 
never pursued. And now it’s too late. His plan was to travel the 
nation—coast to coast, mall to mall—setting himself at the center of 
each shopping center with a soapbox and a bullhorn to protest the limits 
of free speech in the American commercial paradise. As he was ejected 
from each one—as he would have been since even inflammatory T-shirts 
were forbidden by management—he would add its name to a list and move on 
to the next, where he would sound off and distribute his list. He hoped 
to get kicked out of every major mall in the country, demonstrating that 
our freedoms of assembly and expression did not have a foothold in these 
proxy civic spaces.


At the time, the late 1980s, it seemed trenchant; a future where a muted 
citizenry could conspire only via ham radio and stapled zines was right 
around the corner. But it’s all so quaint now, this concern for reaching 
the people through physical contact, in physical spaces, when minds can 
be much better led with the right digitalia. There are fewer public 
places for protest today—granted—but protest has largely gone off the 
streets and has been empowered by the move. With that tech-enabled 
evolution, my main complaint about the replacement of the public square 
with the mall has withered. As malls get better, more like cities (even 
if toy cities), I’m beginning to appre­ciate them for what they are: 
rehearsal spaces for future urbanites.

cont'd....
http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=2539